Ravens Bluff, The Living City

Adventure 2-42-1

So there we were, sitting in the HQ for the City Watch enjoying some Mead. The week had been slow for the most part but recently the animals had started getting sick and some sort of plague had started to spread that was inhibiting peoples ability to cast spells. Worse, none of the standard magics were helping. Eventually we were greeted by Captain Warhawk Starsun, who had a mission for us. He wanted us to run a patrol for the city out to the East, to a sign 35 miles out. The purpose of the mission was to make things in the city appear normal, as if nothing strange was going on and such. We all agreed, we were to carry a banner for the city and make our presence known to those. Before leaving we gathered the banner, some supplies, and purchased some basic equipment.

We made it to the East Gate around noon and were heading out to leave where we found a crowd gathered, many of which were coughing, surrounding a man in blue robes addressing them. Upon closer inspection it became apparent that the lot of people were angry, specifically they seemed to be angry at the man in robes. Swords and sticks were drawn and when a rope was thrown over a tree we decided to step up and see just what was going on. We find out that the man, Silus, was a wizard and was being blamed by the crowd for the recent plague in the city. We worked on smoothing things out, eventually Mok convinced the crowed we were going to take the man into custody and payed them a small sum for “catching” Silus. With that the crowd finally dispersed. Talking with Silus, he thanks us and gives us some sort of prophecy along with a potion of some sort. With that Silus magically disappeared.

The day was then uneventful, we had talked with a few passerby on the roads, assuring them things were fine in the city. Later on, as evening was setting in we were crossing over a ridge and off in the distance we spotted smoke billowing up into the air. Moving in for closer inspection we found an Inn of some sort being attacked by Ogre’s, several of which with flaming bows. Several of the inn’s residence were engaged with them, so naturally we joined in the fray, helping to extinguish the fires and eventually sending the Ogre’s packing (those that were still alive that is). After things settled a bit we met with the Inn keeper, a One-Armed man named Kendall, and his wife Sarah. They mentioned that it had been the first attack on the Inn in over 8 years, strange indeed. We decide to stay the night there and are invited in, over dinner we learn that Kendall and his Wife had bought the inn with treasure that had procured from a fight with an Ancient Red Dragon many years ago (which is also how Kendall lost his arm). Humorously enough, ones of their daughters (a Druidess), took a fancy to Dresden over dinner. It was a shame really, Dresden wasn’t too interested in having any of that, and while he humored her somewhat with stories of our adventures (as well as Mok) he politely declined any further interaction with her, despite her interest). Dresden, to make matters clear, even locked his door over the course of the night.

Mok, Gevus, and I shared a room for the evening (perhaps Dresden didn’t trust us not to promote a possible romance for him, rightfully so). I took to the evening making some notes of the day and would have tried to convince Gevus to unlock Dresden’s door, but he wandered off before any such plans could be made. Eventually he came back later on, apparently he had met up with the other daughter (and Priestess) and had gone out with her, during which they spotted some sort of dark shape in the wilderness. Coming back he mentioned it to us and we decided to check it out, rousing Dresden from his beauty sleep. We didn’t find anything though.

The next morning we set off again on our patrol, thanking the Innkeepers for their hospitality and wishing them well. On our was we found a lady with a broken leg and a broken down wagon. Apparently her son had gone missing, Jimmy, an hour ago when he left to go seek help. We set off to see where he was about, finding ourselves upon a well in the ground. Dresden and Mok climbed down and what happened here is nothing something I’m so sure of. All I know is they went down there and everything seemed okay for a while (it was apparent the well was not very big so they were squeezing down there). Finally Dresden comes up with a body in his arms, Jimmy, who seemed a little shaken but okay otherwise. They next thing we know Mok is screaming from the bottom of the well. So Dresden goes down to investigate. Gevus and I waited a little while, eventually asking if things were okay, after being reassured from Dresden they were, we waited longer. Finally, Dresden comes flying up with Mok… in two pieces. Apparently there was some sort of big bug in the hole which had grabbed Mok and despite Dresden’s best efforts had succeeded in chopping our resident wizard in two… Most would say that it was a terrible tragedy, but as far as things go, we’ve seen a lot worse. Still, now we were down our wizard, we still needed to complete our patrol, and we needed to bring the boy back. So getting Mok revived was put on hold for the moment, I used an Oil of Preservation (Gentle Repose) to preserve his body, to make sure it didn’t decay (Mok would never forgive us if he came back with a partial ear missing or something).

We brought Jimmy back to his mom, who informed us that her husband had gone missing when their wagon had broken down. We fix the wagon and get them back to the Inn, who agreed to watch over Mok’s corpse for us. From there we decided to go look for her husband. Gevus, Dresden and I follow the way her husband had went and after pressing through some woodlands for a while, come across a Shattered Tower of some sort with several Ogre’s on patrol outside of it. Some invisibility magic was put to use and we brought ourselves quietly in, the Ogre’s none the wiser. Exploring the tower, Gevus got us through several locked doors, quick as that, and we made our way past an Illusionary pit. Finally we found ourselves entering a room with a wizard and a few Ogre skeletons. The fight was quick and done with before it really began. We found the husband on the floor and woke his butt up. He then informed us of a secret door inside the room, in which we found a Cauldron of some sort billowing a smokey substance unto an extremely detailed copy of the city. Remembering the prophecy Silus told us, we used the potion he gave us (lucky much?) on the cauldron and it stopped making all of the smoke. Clearly this was causing all of the sickness in the city.

It’s been a few days since our four legged jaunt down to Zakhara. For the most part things have been quiet. Well as quiet as they can be in Raven’s Bluff. The recent attacks in the south against Procampur have been disturbing to say the least. I’m wondering how long it might take for them to turn their sights towards us. It would seem foolish for a mishmash of humanoids to turn to a city this size. The truly concerning part is what are they doing all together in the first place. That is what really bothers me. I wonder if the they will dispatch soldiers or knights to assist. for now these decisions are above my paygrade and station. Well my political views are better wrote elsewhere. And i need to review the days our own humanoids barely made it through.

Shortly after breakfast a few mornings ago a messenger by the name of Billy approached us. We were just outside of one of our favorite haunts. He was told clearly to present this message to us and we of course obliged him with a few silvers and a copper as a courtesy far more than the young man’s eyes have ever seen in his recent lifetime you’d think this; and was off he was, quickly as their type usually are. It read as follows’ “I need your help mm in gold I will offer no more! Meet me at the seven Tigers in! Ask for Martin! Please come as soon as possible!

Well we weren’t doing anything else, we were all off of our various duties, and the clouds were gathering. Why not? Along the way we met some rather unusual characters in the side alley selling off some potions allegedly magical If you had some cures I don’t recall which was which but failed or about the lot. I wasn’t thrilled with buying things in a back alley but it all seems on the up and up. I haven’t heard anything about thefts of magical potions or any contraband coming into the city. They were not breaking any laws. I was skeptical of their quality As we entered the seven Tigers we were as always greeted face to maw by the taxidermied great cats. we asked her Martin and we were quickly before it back to a back room unhappily we were out of the rain that was about to start. Martin introduced us to Mr Arthur wild I’m old and scraggly man with two cars p he was very stern with one fact we had to agree to guard whoever he one of the card and the money that was agreed upon before he would even tell us who it was

Once we came to an agreement that the person had no direct intention of harming the city we agreed order and gave her silence. That’s when it was clear to us that we will be escorting I miss Sandra I was not aware of who this woman was I had heard some murdering of the name before I thought but it was unclear as for but he seemed all too familiar when was impressed that she was even in the city fire and evidently everybody in the realms was looking to destroy her that was our job to keep her safe while she went and ran some errands. Whatever power she had all we were instructed was she would not be helping us and that was for home safety as well as the safety of her and everyone around us. read a few local places that you wanted to stop over the next three days and antique shop the frock square the local Coliseum and a few meetings that she had to go to that she gave us some information about. ultimately the biggest concern is the fact that she was being chased by followers of Siri followers of Tyler was the Sun Theron and the red wizards of that.
That evening we retired to the seven Tigers in the upstairs commuter charge my personal – was on the same floor with Lori and Kel treat dark arrow we made an effort introduce ourselves but she’s real well we were told to call her shant for short was less than cordial about her escort she eventually tolerated to Paul to be in the room just keep ur save myself and more instead down the hall took the room next to it so that way I can monitor the window adjacent to hers if I’ll be at recessed by about the room step we keep them on a few people coming up and down the stairs Lauren kill tree dark Karo in a drunken stupor for example

Eventually I realized I had to get some sleep where I was going to be useless in the morning for traveling the city so I dismantled my armor and was ready to go it was off of course in love the night we heard I heard the kind of battle and I came running and found all but Lauren and oil and Apollo everybody it in the full truth of combat I do about the window and my night clothes taking only enough time to put on my boots of flying once activated I break came into her window making sure she was me again and fight my way throughout to the people coming in and around the battle ensued for quite a while I know a few of my team members of dropped and raised and drop them and raised in the team we lost raanjhanaa and Tarot we’re still working on raising funds for their resurrections Mach was turned into a animal symbols familiar hedgehog but he was he able to scurry down to the stables and ran up his horse scrap on its back in with its wings of hooves fly over the window – escorts and a safe to you as a hedgehog only continue to battle and then eventually track down the invisible castor we realize that there were somewhere spurs and marked with Eric and members of the Sun therapy eventually we were able to get back to rest for some of the evening sort of.
we recovered
9x mwk falchion
8x mwk field plate
1x Magical Half Plate
From the attackers .

The next day well prepared and back in my full armor we set out with Shan after breakfast we were just getting into Merchant’s Way when we nearly ran over Shan. Another Shan dressed similarly and in all red our charge was in black. Having no choice we split up and chased both. Our charge vanished without a trace and the one in red we found thanks to Mok’s tact and charm with some local children. After we found the red Shan Mok went into an in depth discussion to verify that she just got to the city and had no idea who we were and had no idea anyone knew she was coming. We took this Shan as our charge all the while on the look out for the imposter.

It seems the same I had many plans for meeting with members of the city who’s the upper echelon and as we company inter we ran into multiple issues Ashley has week or the Market district we came face to face with I’m not sure you call a group of all bears perhaps I heard a flock I don’t know whatever it was there was a lot of them all bears and being led by a wizard of Fame ate already slain a few of Mike and Patriots in the city of watch as well as a few civilians we swap their way through them in as we got to the Thievius bastard I found myself somewhere else I spent the next hour trying to find my way out of the barrage of wall after wall and twist and turn until finally I found myself right back where I started more and explain to me that it was something called of maize spell that a trap me in the small pocket to mention until that’s lame that they’ve Ian.

As we continue through the city week then encountered something like a werewolf but not a werewolf there was definitely human and werewolf and aggressive and voracious after a while we were able to sleep the beast we finally took Sean back to her room which surprisingly was at the seven Tigers in next we were found out she was going to be heading outside of the city to meet some people where and who she was with me she wasn’t exactly sure who so we headed out of the city we have gotten about a mile or so out when we heard it the beating of death in the air the star of the stank of accurate hang in the air you almost feel this is love your skin and your sinuses and then we saw a black out the Sun a great black worm love legend came out of the sky we looked amongst ourselves and if there was one in the red light at top me she knew when she was outnumbered and when it was time to fight another day we scattered this thing was like a nightmare the giant white demon that we felt in the plane of ice may have been the same size but it was different this was cruel intelligent cunning as we scattered it latest spell upon R Us that chased us with swarms of Hornets but we were able to avoid them globules of acid drip tucanes but we were able to maneuver outside of their range when we were grouped we headed back out of the city shortly thereafter we were stopped in the middle of the road buy a drow in full daylight he was kind enough to introduce himself as a 1/2 Mar blade mark in the explain very clearly that he would let us pass and no harm will come to us as long as one of us would fight him in the Honorable 101 combat and for some reason before I had a chance to speak which to this day I do not understand how it happened danel spoke up before me Daniel did not die but he was defeated then have more kept his promise and did not fly him unnecessarily how far is female companion came out of the wood and presented a Musical Box – shark and it meant something to her she’s playing this is who she had been looking for and that she would go with him willingly we did them well and returned home it seems the people that had higher to Sweden with where is full too so we were paid us are on a 2000 gold as promised and we all went home to get some rest with a few bits more in our pocket but even more confused than we’d start of the day before last

The veil has once again settled in and wrapped its dark arms around Raven’s Bluff. A few of the Menagerie and I were strolling the streets trying to make sure the peace stayed even though those of us in the watch were off duty. The city had been placed under a type of quarantine by the veil no one could see to get out or come in and it was dangerous to pass through not knowing where you could end up. Through the crowd burst a large playful Collie running around in circles looking rather confused and started running off again. Our Ranger and a few of us knew too well that animals acting strangely with never a good sign so we followed him. Baldor was able to corner I’m just long enough to cast speak with animals he explained to us that the animal needed to go home he was being called home . just then we were stopped by a great man well armed and dark armor and bearing the symbol of the Raven Knights. The Black Knight, Knight Commander of the Raven Knights. Well we stop to speak to him we lost sight of a collie. The Black Knight instructed us that we were being requested to investigate a great number of disappearances in the city people from all over world just vanishing in the middle of the night over the last few days. There were sightings of shops abandoned, plates of food left half-eaten as if they were just pulled out of this plane. He gave us a wand of polymorph self explained that all we had to do with say the words Black Raven and the type of animal we spoke next was what we would turn into it would only work on regular common animals. Just then the knight howled in pain and contorted and shrank into a black lab and ran off into the night. we followed through the throng of people again.

As we rounded a corner there was a large group of elves taking furniture out of a small shop lots of furniture. we address the elves and ask them what their business was here explaining that they were there to pick up furniture that was owed them after a bit of banter back and forth we finally came to understand that the wood used to make the furniture was taken from the High Bank Forest. Recently this area was settled by a group of elves led by the Coronal Lord Silverspear. Diplomatic channels with the self proclaimed leader have not been officially opened, as far as I know . After speaking to Fantassimil the spokesman for the group and presenting documentation from the Coronal, requesting that they return the furniture made from the absconded lumber. I agreed to let them leave and that I would file the proper paperwork to let our government understand what is going on.I also made it very clear that such matters should be gone through proper channels in the future.

Now with two missing dogs one; likely both, powerful citizens of the city missing. Morrin took it upon himself to a sheppard’s hound. His sable coat with a saddle of black and white shone in the pale moonlight peeking through the thinning veil. He didn’t seem drawn like the others and we followed his sense around the city . We were led to what seemed to be an old pet shop obviously closed for some time. We all stood outside and tepal crossed the threshold nothing seemed odd except she suddenly started having a conversation. She discussed something about a squirrel possibly buying one. I became concerned that she was under some spell and crossed the threshold.

Tim’s pet shop was as charming and wonderful as any you could imagine. I recalled childhood dreams of a place where any animal could be taken as a lifelong friend and companion. Tepal plunked down 15 gp in to Tim’s hand as he beamed at us. Hand is his name he said and talked in depth about his care. Tim Turned to me and we discussed the best option for my animal companion. He insisted on a goat of all things. Why do these goats always show up in my life. “Rupert” entertained me on father’s farm growing up and learning Tilla and Tillie had left the City to train with a Gnomish Coven to battle something rising in the eastern hills, I was not totally opposed to the idea of having a goat around. I handed the 15 pieces of gold we agreed upon and went back outside with my new friend.

“Beauty” vanished as soon as I crossed back out into the busy street. As I looked back to the shop I understood the confused looks on my compatriots faces that I saw from inside the store looking out the display window past the cage of kittens. A before I went in I saw again Tepal talking to ..no one. Now there was 30 pieces of gold lying in front of her and the scattered dust where I stood a few moments ago. I didn’t like the disappointment or the lie. I stilled myself and drowned out everything around me with silence. I walked back across the threshold confident that what I was seeing was all a lie. A voice wailed in my mind, “ Don’t do that I like it this way”. I mentally pushed through and again saw the empty room no animals Just Tepal, the money and I. Then Tim appeared again but only as a shadow of what we had seen before he explained that he was killed by orcs just outside the city and he was never laid to rest so he kept doing what he knew. In his initial rage and the release from the haunting he aged me ten years in just a moment. Now he was resolute in his peace and passed on to the plane of his god. Thankfully we had put away a potion that restored my age to its natural progression.

While we discussed our next option Morrin became agitated and started barking at Dannel who twisted and fell to all fours cringing in pain as he turned into a tawny and grey terrier the size of a housecat. He ran off, we followed. With Morrin’s new nose we were able to follow him all the way to an open field filled with hundreds of dogs. Using the wand one at a time we changed our selves to blend in. Faldor became a sledding dog of the great north, Silver mottled and eyes the blue Morrin’s lightning magic. Tepal’s hair lightened and covered her body in fur the golden fur the color of sun drenched wheat. When she sat back on her haunches it almost looked like she was smiling ready to retrieve her master’s fallen duck. As for myself I chose that of the great black dogs ridden by the halflings in the mountains to the north east. As we talked to the other “dogs” all we got out of them is that they were being called home. Every dog distinct no two alike and to my untrained eye looked like a perfect specimen of its breed and coloring.

Then a portal opened. With no warning a swirling vortex, to where? we had no idea. The canine cloud began to bilow through as natural as a leaf on a wind. After looking at each other and taking a cautious pause we went through as well.

I am not sure what happened next but we woke in a cage one of possibly a thousand cages. Dogs in cages from one end of the room to the other and near to the ceiling. We realized a very excitable ratter he was splattered with black and tan it was Mok but like the others he was mainly trying to be home but now just confused. A great mastiff of a hound looked down at us and asked where we were from. His eyes bulged in opposite direction in a way that nauseated even my current stomach. He explained we were in Zakhara, also known as the Land of Fate we were thousands of miles from home but at least on the same plane. We dismissed the magic of the wand and returned to human size this send a cascade of cages falling but thankfully no animals were hurt. With Mok and Dannel still enchanted we went in search of our captor. The guards coming in the room seemed like a good way to do that we had seen them patrolling and looking around the room earlier.

We shortly came face to face with Sultan Hilru al-Brengath I requested he explain himself for the abductions transmutations and what his end game was. He was offended and confused. We started over with proper greetings and he explained that he had no idea what all these dogs were doing in his palace. The massive dogs with the bugged eyes had told us there was a Djinni of some kind floating about earlier before we arrived. He explained he “wished” for an animal to represent his rule. The Sultan was not pleased and allowed us a symbol of his office. This allowed us to pass freely about the palace and went in search of the “dao” name Effin Heave. We came upon the Dao in question in the Library calmly reading. We explained the confusion. Effin was unconcerned and bitter as his contract was with the father the previous Sultan who died young and was now stuck with the current Sultan for 15 more years. He said he would return everyone to human form and reverse the portal to send everyone home. If he was released from his contract. I was in the middle of Saying, Alright, we’ll talk to the Sultan.” At the word “alright” he thanked us for agreeing and left.

The Sultan was not entirely pleased but took the loss of his servant well as his wishes were turned on him regularly. We all returned home with the citizens in tow. We returned and accompanied The Lady Devillars back to her Estate. There she awarded each of us with a pearl necklace from her own collections and each a potion to mend wounds .

Epliouge
Knights Council Meeting; I was inducted as a full member of Knights of the Griffon
Creation Mok gave me the items he had been working on since I was weakened in Ren’s Mansion. +2 int, +2 cha, +2 dex items created that all but wiped out my savings and the necklace I just got. Morrin finished the enchantment on the Shield made from the White Dragon Scale He and I led the mission to slay after chasing off the Prankster Ice Mage. I was Awarded the Griffon feather Necklace.

.

Treasure
1500 Gp Pearl Necklace for each of us
A Potion of cure light wounds for each of us
Exp
Mok 1600
Others 3200

2-39

Log Entry:
Morrin Telemnar
Commander in the Raven’s Bluff War College
Sergeant in the Raven’s Bluff City Watch, Scout Ranger’s Division
Squire to the Keepers of the Mystic Flame, Raven’s Bluff Knighthood
Member of the Midnight Menagerie, Raven’s Bluff Adventuring Group

Charles Oliver O’kane, Lord Mayor summoned us to investigate a recent number of slug attacks in the city. A large number of city watch members and citizens of the city had been injured or killed from the attacks. The Lord Mayor was also suspicious that the attacks might be orchestrated. We were to meet with a contact in the sewers and begin our investigation, which is exactly what we did.

We were led to a sewer entrance, which was just a grate, where once into the sewers we were greeted by a Mongrelmen, one we met before, named Grewkachew. To put it simply and politely, he really liked to talk. He tried convincing us to trade with him though we didn’t have anything on hand we were willing to part with that he was particularly interested in. With that settled he began to take us deeper into the sewers, where he explained the state of things as he had seen them. He mentioned, besides slugs, seeing rat-men and some type of Elves (as we later learned that wasn’t quite right). Generally, from what he said, things were not good below the surface right now.

Finally, after a couple of hours, Grewkachew got us to an opening where he said that the Slugs had been coming from. He departed our company at that point and we headed deeper into the ground, eventually leaving the Sewers themselves. After traveling for a while we found ourselves in a large cavern, where we found the bodies of a several people who appeared to be City Watch, likely the one’s who had originally come down to investigate. Oddly enough they appeared to have died from weapon wounds. Dresden collected their belongings and after looking around for a while Faldor found some humanoid footprints which went off into a smaller passage.

Following the passage lead us to a dead end, though we did have the (unfortunate) pleasure of running into a pair of slugs. The fight would have been rather routine but the slugs, and there were several of the slimy bastards, had some sort of magnetic capabilities which made it difficult to hold onto anything metallic, and those in metal armors had to push their way through to get into melee range. Not only that but their magnetism produced powerful magnetic fields similar to the Clerical Blade Barrier spells which made engaging them not only difficult but also rather painful.

Eventually we disposed of the slugs and continued on though. Unfortunately the passage ended and the tracks just disappeared. After scanning the area for magic and thoroughly searching we were unable to find anything of note and left back towards the main cavern. Once inside the main cavern we found another passage that had been less apparent on first entry. We traveled for a good long while, getting lost a few times, before finding a pair of gnomes in conflict with a pair of Phase Spiders. After taking some initial hits we finally smartened up and grouped together, which made us less appetizing to the spiders from a cost/benefit standpoint (or so I would presume) as they stopped attacking us. Mok almost died from their poison.

We tried talking with the Gnomes who offered us food, unfortunately they took some ridicules offense to Dresden mentioning he wanted to Detect Evil on them, and then decided they were going to leave us. We tried convincing the pair to stay, pointing out that if we wanted them dead we would have just left them to the spiders, but they wouldn’t have it and left. Finally we gave up and let the two dolts go off on their own. Wouldn’t have been a big deal but they probably could have given us some directions and possible information on the state of affairs, but oh well, we made do.

Next up we found a bridge crossing over some chasm of immense depth. Initially trying to cross lead to several of us being poisoned, or something similar, from the dust that was settled on the bridge and after getting that sorted out we just flew over. THEN we ran into a Beholder who was trapped behind some sort of magical containment system. He offered to help kill Drow if we let him free, even offering to not kill us, but several members were unwilling to trust him. So we decided to let his creepy ass stay where he was. Personally, while I’ve not had much experience them them, I do know they tend to be at least trustworthy (if not evil SOB’s) and wouldn’t have minded something like him raining hell on the Drow. But oh well. At least he isn’t going to cause harm to anything else.

THEN we ran into Drow. At first we ‘tried’ being nice but the pair of scouts we ran into immediately attacked us after sounding an alarm of some sort. We dispatched the pair of evil (redacted) before moving on to find a large central chamber with several Drow and a few Drow Noble’s in it. They of course weren’t up for pleasantries so a long and grueling fight ensued. Of course there was lots of magical darkness to be had too, it was a right lovely time. I’m pretty sure I was on the literal brink of death at one point after one of their Priests enacted a Flame Strike on us. But eventually we dispatched of their dark asses and seemingly put an end to the Slug problem. All in all, a job well done.

The mayor was exceptionally happy to hear our report and greeted us like hero’s. Well done guys!

Things have been pretty quiet the last week or so but the menagerie got a notice one member that I’m requesting that we meet again with mr. little late of the little late loan company I suppose our work panned out ok word on the street is that the churches been approved for the loan upon our suggestion. when we reach the little late loan company and we got him the waiting room we were short a few members and Gevus was off doing whatever Gevus does and Mach was crafting some items trying to help cover the losses I suffered From the bite of those brain spider things redhead in his house. once again we were greeted at the door with tea and cookies and a familiar Elvin face was there in the waiting room with us the Lady Jenna. it seems since the unfortunate accident at cam show she is been doing more adventuring type work. we changed pleasantries and she explained that she had work with Mr little late previously and was familiar with us and had no issue to working with us even though there were some rumors about our member Gevus her until they seem to get along very well.

Mr. little late greeted us with a smile came in with quite a stack of papers and a big smile. He explained that he needed assistance with a repossession. I must say I was a little surprised that he needed adventures for something so mundane until he explained that he already sent multiple employees there have not returned he requested that we repossess the home of one medium aged who has not paid her loan on time for a few months. he was willing to teach 250 gold pieces in advance and add an additional 500 gold pieces each one returned he was very firm on the price but honestly we weren’t very concerned the money was good and it didn’t seem that involved. So I knew it would be a terrible day. He was very clear on the fact that anything in the home was the property of Mimi and we were not to touch it in any way shape or form or steal anything as of course the laws are severe in the city which Dannel and those of us in the watch knew all too well.

You said we had 7 days to do it but I honestly didn’t see how it was going to even take that long. All we knew about me me is that she had vanished should have been above traveled and troubled history evidently she lost her husband a little while ago and in attempts to try and bring him back sheet already unleashed Undead on this city a couple times through experiments the Church of Selune has been less than pleased with them for activities. in fact they made the city charged with reckless endangerment of the population. and as an added bonus the keys were missing Mimi and the previous appraisers that were sent to visit her home I the only copies left. we accepted and our associate the Lady Jenna joined us on this event I was entirely sure if she was there to help or keep an eye on us but I wasn’t concerned either way. Mainly because Gevus was indisposed .

We immediately went around to the back door. In hindsight I don’t know that this is the best idea. Knowing that we couldn’t getting the doors open we went to one of the windows by the back and looked in. well we tried to look in until we tripped over a body laying in the window we weren’t able to figure out exactly what it happened to him right away. Upon some inspection and realize that we can easily mend the window if we broke it. so we did. we came in under heavy fire from tomatoes. after some banter and some cokes and were able to get the small girls come out and talk to us and then we should have been getting by on the fruits and vegetables that just keep appearing in baskets around the house and she claimed that the men that try to get in or just zapped by the house. although she did seem very concerned about and alleged dragon somewhere in the house. we looked around a little bit came across an odd book in the library is him someone magical that we did not mess with. after a short time the young lady came sleepy requested that we read a bedtime story and give her a hug and a kiss goodnight. Milford very sorry for Mimi’s daughter be left behind like this she seems so confused why she’d been abandoned it all seemed so tragic. so far I went and read her book and gave her a kiss goodnight. and then things went very very wrong turns out he doesn’t have a daughter. And the kids seem to have awakened the imprisoned succubus. she latched onto field or in a sickening embrace to him he was just kissing a little girl goodnight on the forehead to us he was being developed by a black she bitch and then seems she had a few friends join her to massive Glabrezu busted through the ceiling and are willing we were able to fend them off to an extent with thanks to the powers of packs I flew up to engage the succubus and I was able to rent being turend on her and then she vanished and the Glabrezu with her. it seems the alleged dragon was a pseudo dragon that was hiding up the stairs borrowing that had imprisoned the succubus into that body while his master was away evidently Mimi had gone to the abyss in search of a way to cover her dead husband we had to play a little bit of a guessing game with the seed of Dragon to find out that we needed to saw the leg off of her bed post to get into it . Evidently ring the name of the pseudo dragon was made aware by Mimi’s husband wanderer then scroll was encased in the bed post that we’re call Mimi from anywhere in the in the multiverse for her body.

About of flames instinct eruption from the portal and Mimi appears a bottle in one hand and a scroll in the other. she seems very surprised to see us and then explained that her and her husband used to run a travel agency around the planes for the obscenely wealthy and less adventurous of ravens bluff. she explained that she has landed in the abyss but managed to find a portal in she’s been spending quite a time in the plane of fire. She was happy to reward us with a few items as thanks for covering her and getting her back in touch with Mr little late to settle her debt. but she was made aware that she would be reported to the temple of saloon for allowing a succubus in the city and she probably would be fined yet again understood and was just appreciative of the fact that we got her out of the plane of fire.

While we caught her up on the goings on of the city since shae had been gone we talked about the reports of pranks involving ice and and the the new church that seemed to be doing so much good. She seemed rather awkward when we talked about the icey wizards and the Hydra almost a guilty wince. Hmmmmm…..

A few days after caping off the undead leak outside the city we were all met for lunch. Since those of us in the watch had stated coordinating our days off. Our paths cross rarely on a day to day basis now. Our promotions have definitely taken up more time . I have been training with others of the The Red Knight sometimes in the Temple of Tyr some times in Torm or Tempus to discuss tactics and strategic design she has guided us in many styles but her guidance is still distant to me but I feel her sometimes in the back of mind. A nudge to feint or change a stance while in the circle. I continue to study to earn her favor to defend those that cannot.

As I returned from outside a young man ran into the Seven Tigers Inn Tacked up a notice and ran back out with a bundle of them under his arm. Looking over the posting I believed I found something to keep us occupied for the afternoon. It read, “Investigators needed. Hearty adventurers with a quick mind and a keen sense of observation. Only those with a talent for investigation and the ability to clarify the obscure need apply.”

We wrapped up our meal and headed to the Safe Harbor Insurance Company. While insurance and the bean counters behind it are usually not my first thought of adventure, the rules rarely apply in Raven’s Bluff. Even breakfast can be an adventure here.
We were asked to wait and we looked around at the other “applicants” we saw a few familiar faces but they were more likely to be seen in the field or market then the battlefield or in some lost sunken temple.

A young man came out of the office papers and board in hand. He let us know Captain would see us shortly and then requested we answer a few questions foe an application for the position. Pencil pushers, ugh. We went over our fighting styles, our greatest foes felled and our next of kin. Good for an adventurers employer to know but what were we in for exactly.

Finally we met the pipe toting half-elf Captain Pebble. He let us know he was a finding service for one of their clients Mr. Littlelate of Littlelate and Sons Moneylenders wants a group to do a background check on a loan applicant. The team was not thrilled but it would put a 1000 gp in our coffers.

We accepted but there was no details to be had other than Littlelate will see us at 10 the next morning we were provided a letter of introduction and told not to look too muck like adventurers, I only brought PAX not all my weapons etc. I looked more like I was on duty.

Good morning. I am Mr. Littlelate. I understand that you have a letter of introduction from Safe Harbor Insurance Company. Please may I see it?

Mr. Littlelate got right to business once we presented our letter of introduction. “Well, here is the job. A gentleman named Shrewd Reynard has applied for a loan of 100,000 gp. He claims to be a priest and wants the money to renovate a burnt-out building to use as a temple. I need you to determine the likelihood that Mr. Reynard will repay this loan in a timely manner. I have marked his current church on this map. I suggest you get as much information as you can by talking to his business associates and current parishioners. If all else fails and you can attempt to see the church records at his current church, that might work too, but stay within the law when doing so. I suggest visiting the church as a last resort.”

In a strange twist it turned out Mr. Shrewd Reynard’s current employer, Safe Harbor Insurance Company.Mr. Shrewd’s strangeness when we asked about the deity of the the church he belonged to even our own clergy had never heard of “He Who is Totally Indifferent”. His only reference was a “Pita” and his collateral his current church in a not great part of Crow’s End which is most of Crow’s End. A property valued at about 20,000 gp.

Captain Pebble was very surprised to see us return so quickly. We explained that the Littlelate insurance company was in a twist of fate actually looking into a Mr. Shrewd Reynard’s loan application. He just happened to be in the employ of the money lender’s insurer. We explained to The Captain he was looking into the church etc we asked him if he would trust loaning the money but he was sort of evasive saying he didn’t know much about that sort of thing he did hear rumors about his association with somebody named Peta. He was very clear in that he’s an excellent locksmith and no one has ever found any issues with any of his jobs or anything missing any time that he’s worked on anyone’s house. “I haven’t seen him today yet but I did see him yesterday but he said he was meeting someone at the tankard tower today actually” The Captain remembered. We felt we had a bit more to follow on and to the Tower Tankard we went.

The captain was not joking when he told us the name of the tavern sure it had gone to meet his business associate in. The Tankard Tower was just that a building that looked like a giant tankard it look more like an old tower that had a couple editions build on the side of it that look like a broken off mug handle and there was a large signed by the entrance that the club was semi-exclusive and to be a member you must have your own mug. We look to our supplies came up with a few cups in flasks but no money but lucky us right next door they’re just happened to be a mug shop.

The proprietor “MR. MUGS” welcomed us to The Mug Shop welcomed us as we perused the amazing amount of stock. He presented us right off the top with a mug encrusted with jewels and beautiful from top to bottom finely crafted in every sense for a total of 1000 gold pieces Dannel snapped it up quite quickly. After some haggling in some devising we each do design your own mugs through some arcane crafting skills he was able to manipulate and modify mugs in stock to match exactly our needs each of us just with the right fit. He had anything from 1-1000 and more in price. We left with the Following;

Tepal 1g clay

Dresden 450gp Griffon Mug Clear “Pewter” ruby eyes

Tilla 175 gp

Dannel 1000 gp

Morrin: 100 GP Pewter Mug with Tree of Souls imprinted on it.

Faldor 450 gp Silver Mug, with roses wrapping all around it, Rubies for the roses and jade inlay for the vines wrapping around the mug. Stamp symbol of Mielikki at the bottom.

Gevus 100 gp: Ivory Mug with animal heads engraved around it

The Tankard Tower is 6 stories tall and how far down do you get from the top floor depends on how valuable your mug is. Dannel was able to get right to the first floor but all of us first had to buy two drinks one for ourselves and one for, Big Gulp. The drunken dragon who lives in the basement. We bought our drinks and then before we drank ours we had to pour one down the shoot straight down to Big Gulp who they evidently did have a permit for. I double checked after we wrapped up with this entire endeavor.

Finally we returned to Crow’s End. in the neighborhood of the current church was a thriving community the streets were cleaned no one was yelling or drunk everyone we met was exceptionally pleasant people were chatting and enjoying themselves young people playing cards everybody seem very happy everybody sort of in their own bit of extra food or extra money to help out the neighbors they put everything into the church and then the church put everything back out and everybody kept getting better for it. as much as we all wanted to think this was some sort of scam everybody was better for it so we didn’t see anything wrong then we continued to look around and talk to everybody and everybody was happy about the expansion and felt it was going to be a better way to help their community and other communities so finally we said well before we were going to return to little late we check out the old church just tipsy soon as we open the door everything got messy.
After a bit of searching Dannel did have a chat with Big Gulp who seems perfectly happy with the arrangement to increase sales. We came upon Shrewd meeting with some parishioners and would be followers. After some subtle conversation and asking about the unrecognized religion Shrewed explained the doctrine of self reliance and how he and the being Pita an avatar of “ He Who is Totally Indifferent”. We were not entirely sold on his commitment to the local people and the description of Peta as a small Beholder did not make us feel better.
Finally we returned to close end. in the neighborhood of the current church was a thriving community the streets were cleaned no one was yelling or drunk everyone we met was exceptionally pleasant people were chatting and enjoying themselves young people playing cards everybody seem very happy everybody sort of in their own bit of extra food or extra money to help out the neighbors they put everything into the church and then the church put everything back out and everybody kept getting better for it. as much as we all wanted to think this was some sort of scam everybody was better for it so we didn’t see anything wrong then we continued to look around and talk to everybody and everybody was happy about the expansion and felt it was going to be a better way to help their community and other communities so finally we said well before we were going to return to little late we check out the old church just tipsy soon as we open the door everything got messy.
There at the far end of the church was a small floating beholder being pummeled and beaten by waves of ice. Three mages we’re slinging spells at the creature that look like it couldn’t fight it off any longer. We started in on the attack against the ice mages. before we could cross the room they summoned it. a gigantic Hydra with 12 snapping heads that filled almost the entire church by quickly cleaved off a few heads and they returned almost immediately though slightly smaller they were two for everyone I cut off. between spells and the hacking and me moving and flying in to hit the body itself we finally finished the Beast. while the beast kept growing heads it seem to get steadily weaker as it went thru the effort of regenerating them. Him then we flew in to attack the ice mages we only got a few swings in before they melted, literally we got to PETA then we’re able to get him healed up enough that he would be ok that’s when we learned the truth about what Peter really was a halfling who threw some divine intervention became a beholder and they continue to use their fame and, the fact they were able to chased off the necromancers from the church as a way to bring the community together. He still has the ability to turn back into a halfling after we were all healed up we got some sandwiches had a nice chat and then went back to see MrLittlelate we reported our findings and our opinions that it seems like they were generally try to do a good thing and that we’d even come across a love that show too how they figure out they pay off everything. So the numbers seem a little skewed in their salary department it all seemed like it would work out so I suggested that mr. little late give him the loan .

2-35 The Gathering Darkness Part 4

An Entry in the Journal of
Morrin Telemnar
Commander in the Raven’s Bluff War College
Sergeant in the Scout Rangers Division
Squire to the Keepers of the Mystic Flame, Raven’s Bluff Knighthood

Well of note, Dannel and Tilla decided to join us on our adventure, it’s been a while since we’ve seen either of them. It’s always good to have old friends rejoin.

Our adventure started with the Temple of Silvanus requesting assistance from us in the form of a letter, and asking for a meeting. The morning was dark and dreary with rain coming down so we wasted no time on our trip over. Upon arriving, met with Lady Alexis Vandree on behalf of Melissa Eldaren, Druidess of Silvanus.. After some brief introductions she invited us in out of the rain to speak. There was to an important ceremony in 2 weeks held in a grove of theirs. Unfortunately the grove, as things stood, was not likely to be finished in time. Apparently all of the workers had quit because they had started to hear strange noises, accidents were happening, and people were disappearing without reason.

Therefore our mission was to inspect the grove and to determine what was causing the commotion so that the workers would return to work. She informed us that the workers had all headed to Holly’s Mill. So with the basic information we said our good byes so we could go speak to the workers and get their accounting of the events.

Once arriving at the Mill we found the workers, who were currently working for the Mill, they agreed to talk with us. During our conversation we confirmed what Lady Alexis had told us about the strange occurrences, missing people, noises, and unusual accidents. The workers flat out refused to return until something was done about it (not that we blamed them). They gave us some specifics about what they had experienced and then got them to agree to return if we were to do something about the problems.

Having gotten what we needed we left and headed towards the grove itself. It was a long and wet walk, the grove is located outside of the city so it took us a few hours to get there and was easily evening by the time we arrived. While walking about the grove we notice a glint of metal beneath an Oak tree. Upon closer inspection we realize it was a shield of some sort, with coins scattered about it. Mok dug the shield out to get a better look at it, unfortunately the Oak tree then started to attack him.

After dispatching of the unruly tree we noticed some coins below and started digging about (Gevus in particular), during which the local fog parted and the rain stopped, leaving a full moon in the sky. Digging deeper finally found us a thick sheet of limestone that was roughly 20×20 feet, a rather large piece of rock indeed. The way the slab itself was laid gave the impression it was being used to seal something so Tepal used Stone Shape to clear a hole in the middle of the giant slab, revealing a deep cavern beneath.

Tilla then flew down to investigate, shortly coming back up and informing us that there was some sort of multi-hued Dragon sleeping below. Based off of her description we surmised that it might be a somewhat large Fairy Dragon (note to self, look into these in the future). Preparing for the possibility of it not being friendly, or hungry more likely, we all went down. Once down we did indeed find ourselves staring at a sleeping Fairy Dragon. Taking a moment to get it’s attention we awoke it, who revealed it’s name to be Beatrice, and she was indeed hungry. After giving Beatrice some rations she finally asked about Sarbreen, the old Dwarven city, apparently she had been down there quite some time. According to her, she had been exploring and then accidentally got locked in the pit.

While talking with Beatrice we noticed an inky patch of something diabolical start leaking out of a nearby copper pipe, Dresden noted it radiated evil. The next thing we know the blob formed into a Specter and began attacking us, in Particular Gevus. Eventually we slew the beast, though not before it had laid some hefty negative energy drain into our poor Rogue.

Resuming our conversation with Beatrice she informed us of an account. I happen to have recorded it down, in case the knowledge would to ever be lost again. It goes as follows:

“A long time ago, I read a book I found in this cavern. It mentioned drow elves attacking the dwarven city of Sarbreen. The drow were using an evil artifact which was capable of generating undead. Despite heavy losses, the dwarves defeated the drow, and seized the artifact. Since dwarves are not magically inclined, the artifact was turned over to trusted humans for safe-keeping and later.destruction. The leader of the human guards was Sir William Defever, Paladin of Tyr. But the power of the artifact corrupted Sir William and he turned it over to the priests of Talos for an enormous sum of money. The priests of Tyr discovered his treachery and imprisoned Sir William and the artifact in a prison designed to keep the artifact out of the hands of evil individuals. The dwarves built the prison, but it was designed and staffed by humans.”

I guess this had all been noted in a book that she ate after getting tired of eating gruel. She then informed us the prison was below us and that she had a special magic item that could help transport us through the copper tubes in the cavern to get us down there. After taking account of our available magic, to make sure we could get back out (and Beatrice offered a little to help as well) we decided to head down and check it out.

We managed to make it down through the pipes and found ourselves in an old facility. We began exploring and things were uneventful at first, minus items being so worn from age that they would disintegrate by touch. Eventually we found ourselves in an old library where there was a desk with a Diary in it. The diary detailed the stay of a human guard who was to watch over the place but apparently had stopped receiving aid and feared he was abandoned. It also mentioned that Sir Williams, the fallen Paladin was being kept there. The diary went on with passages that took place over several months, the man guarding the place started to run out of food and became contemplative about whether he should just leave or not. The diary did not give any word of what happened to the man (or woman) but it did suggest that Sir Williams, for an unknown reason might still be alive. Due to food shortage the guard had stopped feeding Sir Williams who, despite this, seemed to still be alive and well many months later. We were able to discern from an entry titled “The Year of the Gold Sash” that the diary was easily 150 years old.

Moving to the next room we found a 30×30 room with a glass case contained inside, along with a small structure in the central part of the room separated off from the rest with low walls (the walls were only a few feet high). Inspecting the glass case we came to realize that it was magically sealed with a Glass-Steel spell, and that the contents inside might have something to do with something else in the room.

Inspecting the low walls it became plain that some sort of Silver Decanter was contained inside, which was giving off an Evil Aura. The area itself contained a silvery mist that seemed to float ominously. After some discussion we decided to retrieve the contents from inside the glass case, using a Dispel Magic to remove the Glass-Steel spell and then smashing the glass. Inside we found a ring, a vial of some sort of magical glue, and a scroll. The scroll told us that the Decanter was containing a powerful evil force, it was apparent the Decanter was likely the evil artifact out of Beatrice’s tail. The scroll also said that if it were to be leaking that the glue substance needed to be smeared over it to contain it, but that powerful magic would be needed to have a hope of stopping the artifacts corruption. Since we had no such powerful magic in out possession we decided to have Dresden seal the Decanter and report it back to the city.

During this time it the Decanter leaked another bit of blackness, the substance appearing similar to what we had seen create the Specter from before. Some of it managed to escape up the pipes but Tepal and Dannel joined together and channeled away the rest of it before it could do anything maleficent. If it is not clear to the reader (or I should go crazy someday and lose reasoning) the Decanter was clearly the source of the worker’s problems. We decided to inspect the last room to see if we could find any trace of Sir Williams before reporting back to the city.

Opening the door revealed a man in black armor and red glowing eyes, Sir Williams. After giving us a speech about how he was going to kill us and such, the Paladin turned Death Knight led off against us with a Fireball that made even Mok’s look somewhat benign. Though with some quick channeling from Dannel and Tepal to keep everyone on their feat, Dresen, Gevus, and I led an assault against Sir Williams. The fight was a pain in the ass, he had some fairly powerful Spell Resistance that fended off pretty much all magical assault, and he at different times produced both a Symbol of Pain and a Symbol of Fear which were both very unpleasant. Though with several well placed stabs from Gevus and Dresden unleashing holy wrath upon the Death Knight with Pax, even the mighty Sir Williams (or what was left of him) soon fell.

Despite this it took some time for us to all recover, the Symbol of Fear’s effects only lasted a little while but the Symbol of Pain left excruciating pain in our bodies for a good hour or so. Either way, we collected a powerful gem from the Knight’s sword and Dresden used Pax to sunder the remaining weapon.

Finally we returned to Lady Alexis, explaining everything that had happened, along with the need for the city to deal with the artifact. She was most gracious and I presume that the ceremony will go off without a hitch now.

2-34 The Gathering Darkness #3

What follows seems to be somewhat hard to read, as if whatever writing it was using a talon instead of a quill…

An Entry in the Rantings of
Morrin the Drunk Tellmemore
Commander of Drinks in the Raven’s Bluff War Pub
Sergeant of the Food in the Tree Lovers Rangers Division
Squire to the Keepers of the Mystical Flamingo’s, Birds Roost Inn

Morrin is asleep right now, seems he drank a little too much. Maybe he’ll wet the bed and I can harass him about it tomorrow. It would be oh so delightful.

Well, he can’t be too mad at me, he’s not be doing his entries lately anyways, right? On the bright side he loves this pesky journal too much to tear pages out.

So what happened last time, him and everyone else got some stupid letter about meeting in the Red Raven Hall. I guess they put out fires or something. Hah, Raven’s, they city should know better than to hire such inferior species, but I would never let myself be caught having to fly around hunting for fires. Hah!

So I got dragged along with Morrin and we ended up in the hall of the Red Birds. There were lots of people there! Lots of hopefuls who apparently wanted to be on fire patrol. Some Half-Elf, hey maybe Faldor should have a talk with her! Oh he’s bald now, too bad. I tried to have Morrin convince him to let me use his head as a roost, but Morrin wouldn’t go for it, something about not wanting to be made a pin-cushion or what not.

So we were standing there and the Half-Elf whose name I believe was Nova Moonstar. She went on about their being lots of arson in the city (probably because they use Ravens!) and wanted Adventurers to help out. So they were going to be testing several groups to see who was fit to be inducted as members of the Red Raven’s. I wasn’t too thrilled myself, I get enough fireballs thrown near me because of Mok the Not so Mighty, as it is, my feathers are flammable!

I guess my opinion doesn’t matter though, Morrin made me stay, though I suppose nothing can be worse than that forsaken mansion. So the group had to do three tests, amusingly I thought they might actually fail considering how they did on the first two, though I think I might have rather had Mok throw fireballs at me then deal with those kids again….

The first test consisted them of having to carry a ladder through a course. My oh my was it funny to sit and watch them do it. I even assisted by sitting on the ladder to help, you know to make sure they were actually qualified, fires are dangerous situations, you can’t expect the ladder to be perfectly symmetrical always. Mok and Morrin carried the ladder while Tepal, Gevus, and Faldor got to move hay bails out of their way. It was most amusing watching a Dwarf try to shimmy over a bail of hay, yes indeed. They finished at least and somehow made it on to round two.

I took a nap during round two. But from what Morrin told me they had to carry a bunch of water from a barrel to some buckets on top of a wall. I suppose they used some flying magic, Faldor’s Bag of Holding, and some of Gevus’s arachnobatics (Morrin is going to bar me from his room at this rate) to make it happen. Unfortunately they passed again and then were one of the lucky groups who the third test.

The third test consisted of dealing with some forsaken children. Clearly they were something out of a horror movie, give me a Wizard’s Mansion any day. Did I just say that!? The test was horrible, they had to teach or so they were told a bunch of rug rats about fire prevention. Oh they tried all sorts of things. They made me and Pointy and the Doll do some redicules scenario about knocking a oil lamp over and putting it out. At least it proved that I, Ptera, am superior to some pesky Raven’s at fire suppression. Either way, the kids didn’t want to learn, they wanted this or that, one wanted a dagger! One wanted to learn magic! I think Morrin should have taught him how to throw fireballs just to spite the brat. Err. Maybe that would be a little cruel. Finally, Mok the Misnomer and Tepal started yelling at the kids to listen, it was kind of funny to see the kids get yelled at. Eventually the judges came in and told us we passed, somehow, I guess we were just supposed to put up with the kids for the whole time. Do I look like a babysitter? Next time I see a kid I am going to fly up to his face and do my best to be extra puffy, that should show them!

After that they got some gear and then all hell broke loose. Some fire was happening elsewhere in the Warehouse District. They all hopped on to some fire wagons, I flew, naturally, and went to the scene! Faldor, Gevus, Tepal, and Morrin all pumped water for the Red Raven’s while Mok broke out his Staff of Fire Extinguishing and working on suppressing them that way. Why does the city pump water when they have staffs that do that? Probably because they follow a Raven. Either way, all of the people pumping water eventually wore out, but the fires were out, so it didn’t matter.

After words some of the Fire Officials informed the lot that they felt the fires were being set and they would appreciate it if we looked into it. We were going to go home and get a nights rest and then some children approached Tepal, I think the other Children had their moods afoul because the whole thing ended again with Mok yelling. Finally we got some city guard to take the children someplace elsewhere. They said they couldn’t find their parents, but we later learned the real deal of it.

Finally we headed back to the Red Raven’s to drop off the gear and call it a night. While we were leaving we saw some flames come from a nearby alley. So of course we went to investigate. We run into some dude, who later identified himself as Thagaylion a "Diplomat from Thay (or as Faldor likes to go on about, a Red Wizard, maybe he should try and find a wife from Thay, maybe it would help him resolve his issues with them, it would make for such a great tale!). Morrin and Mok went to talk with him and his Hellhounds (who has Hellhounds!?) about what he was up to and why he had Hellhounds (seriously!?). Fella was kind of a jerk, I would have pee’d on him if I could have gotten away with my feathers not on fire. Eventually guy get’s angry because Morrin and Mok won’t apologize and threatens to call the guards. Eventually he does blow his whistle, Morrin told him to go back on his stroll. Guy starts to leave and then stops.

Morrin and I turn back around to see Faldor turning some sort of Were-creature (which they corrected they were not cursed just were like that in their natural form) into a pin-cushion because it had shifted while approaching Tepal. The one he shot died, the others immediately said they were sorry and had not meant to be offensive. Guess they come from some far off place, not used to the customs around here. They were the children that Tepal insulted accidentally earlier, had come back to apologize. Apparently they weren’t actually children, just were trying to blend in, were actually Wolf-Were’s (because that seems so much better than Werewolf).

Long story short, Mr. Diplomat stuck around long enough to watch in amusement, some city guards were called, Faldor had to go see the judge next day for attacking them, though because of the misunderstanding it was a rather grey issue. Guess they learned their lesson. Even I admit, looking back, that the whole thing stunk worse than Morrin’s room after he’s been messing around with his stupid Alchemy.

After that we called it a night.

The next morning we went to Faldor’s trial, I got left outside with the others. I even left Rajah alone, didn’t try to steal one of Rajah’s whiskers. I felt to bad for the poor cat, he was clearly worried about Faldor.

I’m not sure what happened exactly but from what I gather, some judge named Rupert T. Hangman. Apparently an old aquaintance of the groups (before I was around) was present, some Dannel of Tyr or whatnot, and Mr. Thay showed up again to give testemony. Anyways, Faldor got off with being charged on Assault with wounding. Morrin seems to think it made sense, said that Faldor overreacted but was justified in assuming they were a threat. I think Morrin was actually worried about Faldor. He didn’t make a single joke about his baldness the night before or for the entire day!

After the trial some messenger from the Fire Marshall came to see the group, something about a Cult in Crow’s End dedicated to fire or something along those lines. Also apparently a Helm of Brilliance, and a Large Adamantine Cup thought to be powerful had both been stolen. They were told to try and the Red Sail Tavern.

More fire, just great, it’s all fun and games unless your covered in flammable material.

So they all headed, and by virtue of that me as well, to the Red Sail Tavern. On our way we met a boy who Faldor recognized from a previous adventure. Apparently they weren’t doing well so several items were bought for far more than they were worth, Faldor gave them a whopping 500 gold pieces. Boy asked us, he was polite too, to walk him and his grandfather home. We get to their home and head inside because a storm was brewing. Soon after it started raining, except the rain looked like blood. Remembering that the boy’s tackle box was still outside, Mok and Faldor ran out to grab it but in the process seemed to start acting funny. Mok came running back in screaming about something while Faldor was just staring out there. Morrin, in his infinite brilliance, tried using his cloak to protect him and ran outside to grab Faldor and seemed to fall under the effect of whatever was happening too. Eventually they were brought back inside and while Mok and Faldor recovered quickly, Morrin was out of it for a while. We heard some screaming outside, Mok did some magic stuff and ran out trying to help people… Naked I might add. Never seen a naked Half-Orc before, can’t say I want to again either.

Finally the rain stopped and the father, Thomas, mentioned he had seen a man inside a nearby building the other night doing some fishy (Need to remember to tell Morrin to buy some more while I’m thinking about it). The man apparently went up in flames and vanished. The group then went to inspect this building only to find it burned down.

Then we went to the Red Sail Inn, on the way we saw the Veil rolling in, which was red of all things, so everyone runs inside to escape it. Once inside the group was quickly approached by some guy named Gov Lander, apparently he was part of the great Red Raven’s too. I flew over to a perch to be away from all of it. But from what Morrin said the fella knew some stuff about the Cult and gave them some basic information on getting in. I watched Gevus go over to some people and talk for a minute before coming back, his shoulders slightly hunched, guess it didn’t go well. Mok then headed over, bought them some drinks, and eventually came back looking a little more successful.

Guess they were members of this cult we were looking for and Mok managed to get the info about their meeting place. Blasted bipedals, who makes a cult about burning things, don’t they know that’s dangerous to us with fur and feathers! The group then tried to go to the meeting place, amusingly to get in everyone had to shave, I would have thought Faldor would be happier to be joined in his baldness, but he didn’t really seem so. Thankfully I got to keep my feathers. We all go in, eventually we ended up creeping down some tunnel, I did my best to hide in Morrin’s cloak, not that I was afraid, it’s just a matter of me being flammable and too beautiful to risk being shaved. That’s it.

We follow some blasted tunnel for a while, there were some people chanting, why are people always chanting. Even Morrin does it sometimes when he’s fooling around with arcane tombs. We finally find a large room with a bunch of people in it. Opposite the entrance was some man performing some kind of idiotic ritual, he’s doing something with some flask and it bursts into flames consuming him. As usual people are stunned when their magic goes wrong and nobody was moving. I quickly flew to a nice wooden beam sticking out of the wall opposite the consumed man and watched while the rest of the brilliant adventurers decided it was a good idea to approach. Yeah, they say I’m dumb.

Of course from the fire rises out a big old elemental of some sort, Morrin and Mok later worked to identify as some bastardized Fire Elemental called a Pyre Elemental from Ravenloft (which explains why the Ritual went wrong). Fighting ensued, I stayed back, fire is bad. Of course, they killed them blasted thing and good riddance. We solved they mystery! Kind of. Either way the cult was temporarily not doing any more arson.

Blast it, Morrin is waking up. No time to hide, best to act asleep. Why did I just write that down?

The following is found at the bottom of the journal entry. The first line and every other line after is written in a much more flowing handwriting while the 2nd line and every other line after is written in the same sloppy scribble that the journal entry is in.

Note to self, buy a cage for Ptera.

I’ll pee in your ale.

You do realize I buy your food right?

You do realize I can spill ink on your spellbooks.

Do you want to be cat food? I’m sure Rajah wouldn’t mind.

You wouldn’t dare.

Well, your right, that would be wasteful, Mok did recently teach me how to cast Fireball, I could use some target practice.

DM Version: It seems that a renown wizard named Red has now showed up for regular Wizard’s Guild Meetings. The Lord Mayor Charles Oliver O’Kane has asked the party to go to the house and find out what is wrong. And oh by the way, you can’t see in any of the doors, and if you knock you will get turned into a frog, as many people have already tried and been turned into frogs. The group accepts and readies themselves with buying various potions, scrolls and wands and sets off.

As they make their way to the front door, they find no obvious way in. Dresden attempts a way in, and slips and fall and touches the door, being turned into a frog. This is both good and bad, where Dresden finds a quick way in underneath the door, and then he opens the door once inside for all to enter. The door shuts, and the fun begins.

There is a ceramic purple brain located inside the first room near a door on the right. We would later find out that the brains pointed the way to Ren, but no one figured that out, so the group goes room by room. Not having time to document each room here, let’s just say that there were various rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, dining rooms, room with paintings. And each had its own version of Guards and Wards placed upon it. The paintings took life and gave intelligence. Some rooms gave magic items, and some taketh away.

There was a room of Solid gold Sheets, and Gevus managed to get one outside, at which point he turned back into a frog, the group managed to get him back into the room. Some weird brain spiders attacked Dresden and sucked some of his intelligence away. With that though we finally are on the right track, we find Ren’s bedroom and journal, he was going to study some rare plant, and he poisoned himself, so he locked himself in some holding area, that time would not pass, and left a note that said, if you release me you need to be able to cure me immediately. The group does, and he thanks them, he reclaims a few magic items, but lets the group keep some they have found along the way as payment for saying him and his mansion. The group is returned to normal except for a few uncurable things like Dresden’s stat drains.

Ren helps return all the other frogs to normal, and life returns to normal in Raven’s Bluff.